RE: Can I use a boolean variable in an xsl:if test

> My guess is that newbies imagine xsl:value-of to be
> some kind of "evaluate" function. Of course what it
> really is, is an instruction to write a string to a
> result tree (to "the" result tree or to a
> result-tree-fragment, as the case may be). Since this
> is generally what we want to have happen to our
> results, there seems to be nothing to get confused
> about.
>
> Until it breaks, that is, because we're not writing it
> out, but doing something else with it instead. Like
> testing whether it's true, while imagining we're
> testing the expression that was evaluated for it.

I find that I stay out of hot water with xsl:value-of if I just remember 
that it returns a string. If I use xsl:value-of on a string, I get a 
string. If I use xsl:value-of on a node, I get a string representation of 
that node. Either way, though, I get a string.

Jay Bryant
Bryant Communication Services
(presently consulting at Synergistic Solution Technologies)